enty-three
years--was her fourth officer.

The _Saturn_ was a brand-new ship, this being her maiden voyage. She
was a twin-screw, of 9800 tons register, 100 A1 at Lloyd's, steaming 14
knots; and she had accommodation for 432 passengers, of whom 84 were
first class, 128 second class, and 220 steerage; and every berth was
occupied, the steerage crowd consisting mostly of miners attracted to
Australia by the rumour of a newly discovered goldfield of fabulous
richness. The crew of the ship numbered, all told, 103; therefore, when
the catastrophe occurred, the _Saturn_ was responsible for the lives of
535 people, of whom about 120 were women and children.

I was officer of the watch, and was therefore on the bridge when it
happened, the time being shortly after six bells in the middle watch, or
say about a quarter past three o'clock in the morning. The weather was
fine, with so moderate a westerly wind blowing that the speed of the
ship just balanced it, the smoke and sparks from the funnel rising
straight up into the air when the firemen shovelled coal into the
furnaces; and apart from the long westerly swell there was very little
sea running. The motion of the ship was therefore very easy, just a
slow roll of four or five degrees to port and starboard, and an equally
slow, gentle rise and fall of the ship over the swell that followed us.
The moon was only four days old, consequently she had set hours earlier,
but the sky was cloudless, the air was clear, and the stars, shining
brilliantly, afforded light enough to reveal a ship at a distance of
quite three miles; it would be difficult, therefore, to imagine
conditions of more apparently perfect safety than those at the moment
prevailing aboard the _Saturn_. Yet destruction came upon us in a
manner, and with a suddenness, that was absolutely appalling.

I was pacing the bridge from one extremity to the other, keeping a sharp
look-out ahead and all round the ship; and when, at the port end of my
promenade, I wheeled on my return march, there was no sign that but a
few minutes intervened between us and eternity. But as I approached the
wheel-house I became aware of a sudden access of light in the sky behind
me, illuminating the entire ship in a radiance that increased with
incredible rapidity, while at the same moment a low humming sound became
audible that also grew in volume as rapidly as the light. Wheeling
sharply round, to ascertain the meaning of this strange p